In what may come as a surprise, opposition to names of cricketers to be included in the list came from none other than Virender Sehwag.
Allegations of sexual harassment against former India hockey captain Sardar Singh was discussed by the awards committee before nominating him for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on Thursday.
The charges were levelled by an Indian-origin British hockey player last year. A committee member requested the members to not look into personal lives of any athlete and discuss only their on-field achievements.
Sardar's name was taken up after Devendra Jhajharia became the first Paralympian to be recommended for India's highest sporting honour.
Javelin thrower Jhajharia became the first Indian to win two Paralympic gold medals, setting new world records first in Athens 2004 and then in Rio last year.
High jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu, another gold winning Paralympian, and Varun Bhati, bronze medallist, also got special nod for the Arjuna award.
That was the reason why 17, and not 15 as is the norm, were selected for Arjuna this year.
Incidentally, opposition to names of cricketers to be included in the list came from Virender Sehwag. The former India opener preferred to bat for the lesser-known names in the list.
When the names of two cricketers — Cheteshwar Pujara and Harmanpreet Kaur — were taken up by the committee, there was a discussion over whether one or both of them should be considered.
At that point, Sehwag said that, "an Arjuna or Rajiv Khel Ratna means much more to an athlete who competes in the Asian or Olympic Games."
Sehwag was hinting that cricketers get due recognition unlike many other athletes. The committee was of the opinion that Harmanpreet's candidature can't be overlooked after her swashbuckling 171 in just 115 balls helped India beat formidable Australia in the semifinals of the ICC Women's World Cup recently. So, it was Pujara's candidature which was debated at length.
Sehwag pointed out that "even if you don't give it to Pujara it would not matter. He (Pujara) is going to be there for next 10 years."
Finally, it was unanimously decided to include both the cricketers in this year's list.
As reported by DNA, women's cricket team captain and world record holder Mithali Raj's name was not considered as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) failed to send her entry within deadline.
Prashanti finally gets nod
Basketball star Prashanti Singh has finally made it to the Arjuna awards list in her fifth attempt. Prashanti will become the first basketball player and second-ever women athlete — after wrestler Alka Tomar in 2010 — from Uttar Pradesh to bag this award.
It was not an easy ride for Prashanti, as golfer Aditi Ashok's name was also taken up for discussion. However, Prashanti prevailed over her much younger opponent as Aditi has just started her professional career and the contribution of Prashanti and her family — where all five sisters have represented India in basketball — is immense.
Having started her career in 2002, Prashanti was part of Indian team in 2006 Commonwealth Games. She also represented India at the Asian Games held in 2010 and 2014 before leading the team to silver in the 3rd Asian Indoor Games Asian in 2009 and gold in Asian Beach Games 2011.
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